Right now, the classic self-title debut album Montrose is available for only $5 in MP3 format as part of Amazon.com’s $5 MP3 album deal. (The CD is currently $8.98 and is an AutoRip, which means you get a free MP3 with the physical copy.)

Featuring classic rock staples such as “Rock the Nation,” “Bad Motor Scooter,” “Space Station #5,” and “Rock Candy,” lead vocalist Sammy Hagar and guitarist Ronnie Montrose (who sadly died earlier this year) combine for one of the finest rock debuts of all time.

The seventh episode of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up is here, and Andy takes a look at the trailer for Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, a documentary by Morgan Spurlock, which focuses on the annual San Diego Comic-Con. For our music selection this week, Greg remembers Ronnie Montrose from Montrose and Gamma who passed away this weekend, and in tribute plays “Space Station #5”

Later, we also pay tribute to more of our heroes who passed away this week. Ralph McQuarrie, legendary concept artist whose visions helped determine the look and feel of the Original Star Wars Trilogy, died this weekend – a heavy loss to fans everywhere. Davy Jones of The Monkees also passed away, and we close out the show with a tribute to him.

Ronnie Montrose, guitarist and founder of the rock band Montrose, died on Saturday, March 3, 2012, after a five-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 64.

The news of his death was announced on the Ronnie Montrose official website. You can read the official statement here below.

The band Montrose is best know for its time with former frontman Sammy Hagar, who went on to achieve great fame and fortune with Van Halen. Hagar wrote a lot about his years in Montrose and his collaboration with Ronnie Montrose in his 2011 autobiography Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. With Hagar, who appeared on the first two albums – Montrose and Paper Money, the band had its greatest success with songs like “Rock Candy,” “Rock The Nation,” and “Bad Motor Scooter.”

Sammy Hagar was once the frontman of one of the biggest and greatest bands in history, the mighty Van Halen. But while Hagar sang about standing on “Top Of The World,” as he surely was at times, making millions of dollars, living a life of luxury with fast cars and plenty of women, the musician didn’t always have it easy. Matter of fact, Hagar spent years learning that money, fame, and hit records couldn’t solve every problem, like his wife’s mental state or his bandmate’s addictions and jealousies.

In his autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, we learn that Hagar began life modestly in Fontana, CA. The youngest of four children, he was raised in a low-income household with an alcoholic father who abused his mother. He later went on have his own family with little means of supporting them, but Hagar makes it clear that he was always a hard worker. It always seemed that the entertainer got his big break in music when he was asked by the Van Halen brothers, guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex, to replace their departing singer David Lee Roth just as the band had come off a winning strike with their best-selling album up until that time, 1984. But while Van Halen was one of the biggest rock bands at the time, thanks to hits like “Jump” and “Panana,” Hagar was already a successful solo artist who had actually made enough money and did enough tours on his own to retire from music altogether. And retire to a life of solitude with his wife and kids was his plan until Eddie Van Halen persuaded him to join the band, and while Hagar was reluctant to accept, his chemistry musically with Van Halen proved too strong a force to deny — the singer/guitarist was ready for the “Best Of Both Worlds.”